Commenting on the latest ONS labour market data, Jake Finney, economist at PwC UK, said:
“It has been a relatively uneventful few months for the UK labour market. The cooling of the labour market appears to be stalling, with the unemployment rate nudging down to 4.0%. Albeit vacancies are still falling and now seem likely to fall below their pre-pandemic average.
“One area where there are clearer signs of movement is wages. Annual growth in employee’s total earnings declined from 4.1% to 3.8%. This indicates that the softening in demand for labour is starting to weigh on wage growth. Despite this, wages are still growing in real-terms as inflation pressures have fallen back at a faster rate.
“This month’s labour market data is unlikely to shift the dial for the Bank of England. A quarter-point cut in November still seems most likely, given signs that wage growth is moderating and increasingly dovish commentary from governor Andrew Bailey.”
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